http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/SA-greenhouse-gas-laws-take-effect/2007/07/03/1183351176855.html

South Australia's target to reduce greenhouse gas emission has become law.

Legislation committing the state to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets took effect as of Tuesday, Premier Mike Rann said.

The laws set three targets: reducing greenhouse gas emissions in SA by at least 60 per cent of 1990 levels by the end of 2050; increasing renewable electricity generation to comprise 20 per cent of power generation by the end of 2014; and increasing renewable energy consumption to make up 20 per cent of power used in SA by the end of 2014.

"We are on track to achieve the legislated target of 20 per cent of our state's power coming from renewable sources by 2014," Mr Rann said in a statement.

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China can have sustainable growth: Gore

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/China-can-have-sustainable-growth-Gore/2007/08/07/1186252705844.html

China can cut its carbon emissions without jeopardising economic growth if it uses new technologies that do not emit greenhouse gases, former US Vice President Al Gore says.

Gore cited the mobile phone industry as an example of a business that does not need to burn fossil fuels such as oil and coal.

"There are ways to leap-frog the old, dirty technologies," said Gore, who was speaking at the Global Brand Forum in Singapore.

China, like other developing nations, is worried that plans to cut carbon emissions would cripple its economic development.

But Gore said the Chinese government needed to be more aggressive in fighting global warming because the country's chronic water shortage is tied to climate change.

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One-child policy 'helps protect climate'

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Onechild-policy-helps-protect-climate/2007/08/31/1188067338744.html

China says its one-child policy has helped the fight against global warming by avoiding 300 million births - the equivalent of the population of the United States.

But delegates at UN climate change talks in Vienna said birth control was unlikely to find favour as a major policy theme, partly because of opposition by the Catholic Church and some developing nations trying to increase their population.

Some scientists say that birth control measures far less draconian than China's are wrongly overlooked in the fight against climate change, when the world population is projected to soar to about nine billion by 2050 from 6.6 billion now.

"Population has not been taken seriously enough in the climate debate," said Chris Rapley, incoming head of the Science Museum in London.

He favours a greater drive for education about family planning to avoid unwanted births and slow population growth.

But tougher birth control runs into opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, and from some developing nations which favour rising birth rates and have per capita emissions a fraction of those in rich nations.

Harlan Watson, the chief US negotiator, said that high immigration to the United States makes it harder to slow its rising emissions.